FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to telephone call screeners, specifically to such screeners that are used to reject unwanted telephone calls. Unlike most telephone answering machines, my telephone call screener does not include or control any recording device. It does, however, contain a Read Only Memory (ROM) for playback of prerecorded messages.
Definitions
In this document, the following definitions shall apply. "Screener" is an electronic device attached to a telephone system at a home, business, or telephone company used to reject unwanted calls that would have been received by the called party. "Caller" is the party placing the call that is attempting to reach the called party. "User" is the called party using the screener to reject unwanted calls.
3. Description of Prior Art
For many years, people have been dependent on one of the greatest inventions of all time--the telephone. A major complaint about the telephone is the seemingly endless barrage of unwanted calls. Examples are calls from salespeople, telemarketers, and solicitors.
Many attempts to end these unwanted calls have been tried. Unlisted numbers have been used, but have proven unsuccessful against determined telemarketers. Some people occasionally unplug their telephone, with the obvious disadvantage of not receiving important personal calls. Others have used an answering machine (typically with a built-in recorder) to listen to the incoming call prior to answering it, but this isn't much better, as they must still listen to calls to screen them Some people just hang up on the caller. Hanging up the telephone during a call doesn't necessarily prevent the caller from calling back again. Some sales agencies use long prerecorded messages, sometimes controlled by a computer, without any human involvement on the caller end. Often, these will continue to call back periodically, subjecting people to frustrating harassment, in spite of their hanging up on the caller each time.
Other attempts to end unwanted calls have used technology, including patented inventions. Many of these patented call screeners require the caller to use a preselected code (of one or more digits) along with the dialed telephone number (eg., U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,935, Small and U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,013, Rose). Without the code, the called telephone won't ring. Although this may eliminate some unwanted calls, the disadvantage is that it would also prevent other desirable calls. This would include anyone who didn't know the code, such as possibly distant friends or relatives, school personnel, doctors, or emergency services. The same problem exists for those inventions that screen calls by employing a database of "approved" telephone numbers. A similar problem exists for other patented inventions of a telephone circuit that silences a preset number of rings prior to allowing actual ringing (e.g, U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,435, Foldvary et al.). Legitimate callers that were unaware of this setup may not get through
Caller ID service is another patented invention (e.g, U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,080, Nutter et al.) used to screen calls. However, Caller ID works only on local calls, as some out-of-state calls do not send their telephone number to the Caller ID unit. Even for local calls, screening still requires manual viewing of the caller telephone number during the call to determine if it should be answered. In addition, callers may "block out" their telephone number, rendering Caller ID useless.